Spanish Eurofighter accidentally fires missile over Estonia

The air-to-air missile self-destructed without hitting accompanying French and Spanish planes

The Spanish Ministry of Defence reports that an air-to-air missile which was accidentally fired by one of the air force’s Eurofighters during a training exercise over the south-west of Estonia at 15.44 on Tuesday failed to hit any target, and all of the aircraft taking part returned safely to the air base of Siauliai in Lithuania.

The other planes taking part were another Spanish Eurofighter and two Mirage 2000s from the French air force, and were participating in NATO’s Baltic aerial policing exercise along with the “Vilkas” Bap-47 squadron of the Spanish air force when the incident occurred. An investigation has begun into the exact circumstances, despite the fact that the missile was fired in “self-destruct in the air” mode and failed to enter Russian air space before it duly did so.